


A Start

by lilredsoupbowl



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-30
Updated: 2013-09-30
Packaged: 2017-12-28 02:28:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/986599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilredsoupbowl/pseuds/lilredsoupbowl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt for ducklingturnedswan:</p><p>"First night in together after their reunion (SB, Enchanted Forest, whatever)"</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Start

Emma jumped in the air when the log shifted under her; craning her neck to find Neal already returned from his task of collecting firewood. The pile of wood tossed next to the fire as he grinned back at her; taking a seat on the log. 

Night had fallen in the forest. Dark, ominous shadows stacked against the sky; lacing dark, darker, and darkest layers in the landscape. Each shape seemed more sinister than the next as Emma’s eyes scanned the tree line; fingers itching to pull the dagger from her boot each time the wind picked up. 

Not one star could be found above, leaving the glow from the orange fire the only light source in their little camp. 

A day of being reunited with Neal Cassidy – Baelfire as everyone else seemed to address him – and Emma noticed the same pattern as the preamble of their relationship in Portland. 

Little tasks she needed to do would miraculously be finished – water fetched from the stream. Small offerings of gathered berries that had been stolen Apollo bars a decade ago. She’d even caught him in the act! – sharpening the cutlass that had been his. But it was replaced later. Polished, sharp, and waiting for her in scabbard.

She should have left the dagger out for him as well! 

Looking at him out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Neal wiping sweaty palms against his pants; hand almost extending to rest on hers – but retreating back just as fast. 

His arm almost doing the fake stretch he’d concocted in a Portland drive-in; reaching to sneak around her shoulder – but he pulled back once again. 

Both staring into the fire; intently. Focusing on not forcing eye contact.

To not touch – except for where their elbows brushed against each other. 

From the corner of her eye, Emma watched his mouth open; preparing to speak. But he licked the bottom of his lip instead; thumbs twirling in his lap. 

Somewhere over the fire stood rows of snug, little tents. When Regina led Henry off after night fall, promising to stand guard as he slept – to chase his Neverland nightmares away - slowly the rest of the group started filtering away to their own rest. Had her parents not been giggling and whispering to themselves as they disappeared from the firelight, maybe Emma would have followed them.

Had Neal not been slowly navigating closer to her each time another person headed for the tents, she certainly wouldn’t have lingered by the fire!

Mulan had remained the longest. Rolling her eyes at both her comrades’ behavior. When Neal had left to collect more firewood, Mulan had muttered to Emma that she’d had enough of dealing with ‘lovelorn idiots’ in the past year; leaving the fire for her tent with a bored sigh. Ignoring Emma’s pleas that she was wrong – nothing was going on!

Now - as Neal drummed his fingers against his knee - Emma sat for seven solid minutes before releasing a loud groan, 

“One of us is going to have to start this off!” 

Neal stuttered for a response, forcing Emma to continue, 

“I don’t think I should have to do all the work – you left me! You would have married a crazy bitch without a moment of hesitation – “ 

“ – There was hesitation, Emma.” 

“Not enough, apparently! Shit Neal – I thought you were dead! You’ve broken my heart – thrice now! Portland! Tamara! Portal! I’ve mourned you –“ 

“People don’t use ‘thrice’ enough –“ 

“Shut up!” 

“I thought you wanted me to talk –“ 

“I’m on a roll now! Sit back. Relax! I’ll let you know when you can start! - 

I waited for you in Tallahassee for two years; I’d served my time – given birth to your son and got to watch them take him away from me – but I still waited. For you. Where the fuck we’re you, Neal – you can answer that one and then I’ll continue!” 

“ - Canada. Alaska. Canada. Wisconsin. Michigan. Ohio. Illinois. Nebraska. New York – I ping-ponged back and forth; always avoiding going too far south. Sure as hell couldn’t think of Georgia – let alone Florida.” 

“You didn’t miss much,” admitted Emma bitterly. “There was no beach in sight – hot all the time! Had to wear sunblock just to walk to the corner diner every morning - altogether some lousy two years-” 

She paused when Neal’s hand covered her own; palm as sweaty as she’d assumed. His thumb tracing a pattern against the top of her hand – trying to supply some comfort. 

“I guess neither of us ended up being warm-weather, beach people,” Neal acknowledged with a weak laugh. “Much more built for harsh, New England winters! Must be the Enchanted Forest in us –“ 

“Even after Tallahassee,” Emma gulped. “ – I searched for you. Went through stacks of paperwork and arrest warrants – anything that fit your background and MO highlighted. Each time another dead-end.” 

“Tried to get my life together after… after Portland. Had a few slips in Canada - were you going to bring me to justice, beat the living shit out of me, or – did you want me; regardless of everything –“ 

“… kind of all the above, I guess. I was going to make you pay – I’m sure I would have kicked your ass if I had found you but… I still -.” 

Out of the corner of her eye, Emma watched him nod. His hand stilled but remained over hers. 

“ – why didn’t you… look for me. I mean, I get August told you ‘this’ and you thought you had to – but afterwards? When the curse broke?” 

“I… I did. I looked for you before the curse broke. Found you shacked up with some guy in Chicago. Maybe four years after Portland? You seemed happy – so happy. Guy was a lot older than both of us but - the way he was throwing money around – he was taking care of you. You were smiling. Not living in a car. It was the life you deserved… so I watched a bit; being the masochist I am. Trailed the guy around to make sure – trailed you a bit and came up with absurd fantasies; imagined what it could have been like to live that kind of life with you. And afterwards, I hit the road. Ended up in Michigan – “ 

“He was married,” Emma admitted through her teeth. The memory of that betrayal resurfacing after years of repression. She remembered feeling like an idiot; a kept woman – berating herself still for being so needy. For attention. For something resembling love. For family. In the end, she wasn’t even angry at that son of a bitch – just herself. “My lying senses kept popping up – but I kept pretending everything was top-notch and wonderful. At that point, I really just wanted to believe things could be easy and good for awhile. He had his family living in a big house in the suburbs – hours from the city! The apartment I was living in he kept only for nights he had to work late – it’s a pity you didn’t follow him more. You could have unearthed that shit a lot sooner – it took me months before I found out –“

Neal looked about ready to choke. Grasping her hand, he declared, “I’m sorry, Emma. I really thought – I was so sure you’d never want to see me again! Emma, I didn’t even think I’d be a blinker on your radar anymore! Why would you care about some piece of shit who –“ 

“But I did! I do! You should have come crawling back and begged me the very moment –“ 

“I’m sorry, Emma! And I’ll keep on apologizing for that – I’ll never stop being –“ 

“And you could have told me about Neverland!” 

That part of the conversation escaped Neal’s understanding. Brow furrowed in confusion, Neal tilted his head slightly before asking, “Why – how could I?” 

“An evil shadow obsessed with your bloodline: might have been nice to know about! Oh – and everyone knows all about Baelfire! Mermaids! Indians! Lost Boys!… Tinkerbell considers herself your fairy godmother or some shit! All but me! How is that fair? I even read your story in Henry’s book –“ 

When Neal opened his mouth to speak, Emma quickly interjected, “Just for curiosity sake! … and - you know what Neal? The Neverland years weren’t included! Shocker!”

“Can’t you just be mad at me for the things I did – I can’t help that I got kidnapped and held hostage in Neverland for a couple hundred years! Wasn’t planned! I’ll own up to fucking everything else up – but had no control on the Neverland years.” Neal was fuming slightly, his hand still resting on her’s when he exasperatedly declared, “I love you. I know you’ll roll your eyes at this, but I’m pretty sure it was love at first sight for me and – I want to try to make things right between us. I’ll do anything for a chance to –“ 

“ – You just liked having a girl steal a car out from under your nose.” 

“It was definitely impressive. Left quite the impression!”

Taking her hand in his, he raised it to his lips; kissing the surface gently as his fingers tickled the underside. Emma blushed slightly at the contact, turning back towards the fire and attempting to shield her face with her hair.

“So what do you plan on doing with me now, Emma?” 

“I don’t know,” admitted Emma. “A combination of the earlier plans – minus turning you over to the juridical system. I think we can just use your more recent portal-trips for that part of the scheme!” 

“Okay- “ 

“- It’s not going to be smooth sailing!” 

“I never expected that –“ 

Turning to face him, Emma grabbed him by his hair; pulling him downward for a fiery kiss. Much more awkward then those they’d shared eleven years ago. Noses bumping. Hands uncertain where to rest. The closer Emma turned into his grasp – the more unsturdy both became on the log. 

“ – I love you,” Emma gasped when they were forced to pull away; want for air and to not fall off the log winning the moment. In a second, they were both knocking against each other in urgency; Emma grapping Neal’s scarf to hold him upright. 

When they pulled away again, both stared at the other. Smiling wide as they panted. Emma trying to think of an enticing way to invite Neal to her tent – while also wanting to breach the subject of ‘dating’ during epic adventures. She wasn’t ready yet for the ‘true love’, ‘happily ever after’ talk like everyone around them. But the prospect of sex, waking up cuddled into his side again, and the intent of trying normal ‘dating’ when they got home to Storybrooke – that made sense to her. Orgasms and movie nights!

The rustle of leaves grabbed both their attentions away; ears perking up as they scanned the camp. 

A dark form appeared across the fire. Emma and Neal both tensed; Emma pulling out a dagger from her boots – but a voice called, 

“Mom – dad?”

Henry’s face appeared in the firelight; his blanket wrapped around his shoulders as he came closer. 

“Hey, kid,” Emma greeted as she moved her dagger back into place – not wanting Henry alerted just yet at the fresh dangers. It was much better to have him believe this was the magical place from his book a bit longer. That, after the hell of Neverland, he was safe. Home.

“Thought Regina put you to bed hours ago, buddy,” Neal laughed; shuffling down the log so there was a place for Henry between them.

“She did – I even got to sleep a bit,” Henry trailed off as he sat between his parents; head tilting to rest on Emma’s arm – Neal playfully messing up Henry’s already bedmangled hair. 

Henry weakly smiled at both their attentions – but the smile drifted as he watched the fire; leaning more heavily into Emma. 

“Bad dream,” Neal prompted; offering up an outlet for the thing he wished to never share with a child: nightmares.

Tentatively, Henry nodded his head. Neal sighed, scooting closer to his son. 

“Do you want to talk about it –“ 

“Not really,” replied Henry; yawning a bit as he curled against his parents. “I heard your voices and – “ 

“You want a story,” Emma asked; wrapping an arm around Henry’s shoulder. “I know a hilarious one about the time you dad and I snuck into a drive-in – not as easy a feat as you might think!” 

Biting his lip, Neal begged, “Please not –“

“Was it in the bug?” 

Emma couldn’t help smirking over their son’s head at Neal. Their kid’s curiosity was peaked already. 

“Yep,” confirmed Emma. “We were in the yellow bug – your dad in the trunk to start–“ 

“Emma -,” Neal cautioned again; uncertain if they should be so open about their lives as thieves with Henry. If it didn’t already fill Henry’s sneaky head with ideas – Regina might be livid to learn they told him about - 

“And a final tidbit: the evening at the drive-in ends with your dad running naked across the screen; chanting that he was the ‘Lizard King’ –“ 

Henry’s head snapped towards Neal; eyebrow rising as he simply asked, “Lizard King?” 

“We’re going to start your musical education tonight, buddy,” Neal ruffled his son’s hair again. “The Lizard King is a nickname for Jim Morrison – lead singer of the Doors. He wrote a poem for one of his album sleeves which went, ‘I am the Lizard King, I can do anything –“ 

“Neal’s full of that,” explained Emma. “Tons of trivia and stories about music –“ 

“But why were you naked,” Henry entreated. “Running and chanting ‘I am the Lizard King’.” 

“Because your mom dared me to –“ 

Here, Neal backed tracked to the start. Narrating, “Once Upon A Time in Portland, a beautiful, young woman got it in her head that she’d like to see a movie – “ 

Listening to his dad – laughing each time Emma found a cause to interrupt and state her own version of events – Henry fell back to sleep.

Emma’s arm around Henry’s shoulder. Neal’s arm slowly reaching to wrap around Emma. The pair protectively holding Henry in a joined embrace. The dangers melting back into the landscape. Leaving the little family content in the fire’s glow. Together.


End file.
